Anti-child pornography bill passes with one minute to spare

LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) -

A bill aimed to stop predators from trafficking child porn passed, with one minute to spare. The bill called Alicia's Law is sponsored by Representative John Frullo. It will create more investigative positions to apprehend more predators who contribute to child crimes.

Due to legislative rules, the bill had to pass by the Wednesday deadline of 11:59 p.m.

Ed Smart is an advocate for the bill. His daughter is Elizabeth Smart. She was abducted in Salt Lake City, Utah. Representative Frullo says he was happy to tell Ed the bill passed on the day his daughter's predators were sentenced.

According to the Department of Justice, crimes related to child pornography are the fasted growing in the country.

"The ICAC (Internet Crimes Against Children) unit has identified over 350,000 computers in the United States that are trafficking in this type of activity and other estimates from 30 to nearly 50,000 in Texas," said Representative, John Frullo, (R-Lubbock).

Alicia's Law will now give the task force administrative subpoena power. This will help investigators find predators, when seconds matter.

The bill is named after Alicia Kozakiewicz, who was lured by an online sexual predator in 2002. She was abducted at the age of 13 from her Pennsylvania home. She was taken across state lines where a perpetrator held her in his basement for four days torturing and raping her.

The task force finally found her, saving her life. Now, she is talking about her tragedy to stop this from happening to others.

Frullo and other lawmakers are now working to fund capturing those who traffic child porn. "The money that we are looking at is $1.5 million each year, so $3 million dollars," said Frullo.

Representative Frullo hopes by next Monday, once the budget is finished, he will get the funding he needs. Governor Perry also needs to sign the bill into law by June 19th.